Kevin Dolan
% EURO FINAL: ITALY VS. ENGLAND
Game: (234125) England at (234126) Italy
Date/Time: Jul 11 2021 3:00 PM EDT
Betting Line Provider:
William Hill
Play Rating: E%
Play: England - To Lift the Trophy (-120)
We're taking England to win the European Championship and lift the trophy on Sunday against Italy over in Wembley.
Breakdown
England are in their first major final in well over half a century, and with a capacity crowd in attendance inside Wembley in the heart of London, the atmosphere for this game should be absolutely electric.
And it's really been a tale of two teams to get here right now. Despite being one of the favorites early on in the competition, England opened the campaign poorly, drawing against Scotland and eeking out narrow wins against Croatia and the Czech Republic respectively. That put a lot of pressure on their Round of 16 matchup against perennial heavyweights Germany, a team England have notoriously struggled against in the past. But this English team are absolutely stacked deep with world class level talent, and while it took a while for that opening goal to come, when it did, and England took command of the game, they simply haven't looked back since and seem to have gotten stronger as the tournament has progressed.
A 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine in the quarter-final was followed by a spirited Denmark performance in which the Danes scored an early goal, England's first conceded goal of the tournament, and put England in a place where they were yet to find themselves, namely chasing a game. England showed tremendous character in that semi-final, equalizing just 9 minutes later showing that this isn't the same English team of old who simply fold under pressure and who have the ability to force their way back into games.
Italy meanwhile have gone in the reverse direction. After blitzing their way through the group stage with maximum points and the highest goal difference out of any group stage winner, they really struggled against a fairly mediocre Austrian side in the round of 16 and were fortunate to survive after Arnautovic's goal was ruled just offside before Italy took the game in extra-time. They've since followed that up with a great first half performance against Belgium, before being pegged back in the 2nd half and got absolutely dominated by Spain for large stretches in Tuesday's semi-final in what was their 2nd poor performance inside the English capital.
Despite Italy's stellar run on defense leading up to the tournament and in the group stage, since facing higher caliber opponents in the knockout rounds, they've failed to keep a clean sheet, conceding in all three games. More than this, Italy have also given up over 10 shots each per game to Austria, Belgium and Spain respectively, so expect an English team absolutely loaded with offensive talent to have as much, if not more success in attack than those sides did.
Spain showed with Dani Olmo and Pedri that Italy are susceptible down the wings to players with pace and that's something this English team has in abundance. Sterling, Shaw, Walker, Mount, Foden, Grealish, Sancho, Saka.. the list goes on as to players who have the ability to get down those wings and cause a ton of problems for Italy in and around that 18 yard box where Harry Kane, aiming to break Gary Lineker's major tournament goals record, will no doubt be waiting.
The biggest problem for England here is history. If they can overcome the pressure of the occasion and the weight of expectation and history, they have more than enough talent to win this game and I fully expect them to lift this trophy on Sunday because of that gulf in attacking threat that they possess. Italy no doubt have world class playmakers in the likes of Jorginho and Chiesa, but England have more of them, and I see the English coming out on top as a result on Sunday.
Take England to lift the trophy on Sunday in front of a packed crowd in Wembley.
PLAY: ENGLAND - TO LIFT THE TROPHY -120
*Line good to -140, -141 to -155 (4%), -156 to -170 > (3%), -171 > (2%)
